


Pushing the Limit

by Smok3dToyst



Series: Kamen Rider:Beyond the Horizon [1]
Category: Kamen Rider Drive, Kamen Rider Gaim, Kamen Rider Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4842224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smok3dToyst/pseuds/Smok3dToyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a future where Shocker has finally taken over through time travel terrorism, The legacies of Kamen Rider still exist through the machinations of the being only known as Kamen Rider Horizon. Those who would never knew of the riders find themselves burdened with their powers and responsibilities. But they find themselves without the travels and the motivations that strengthened their predecessors. One such person is Artemis Maudlin, a scavenger who takes it on her own to seek out the power of Rider. Finding the first functioning prototype for the Chaser and Mach systems, can she survive her first encounter as a Rider? Or will it break her like so many others?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pushing the Limit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CavalierConvoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavalierConvoy/gifts), [Enfilade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enfilade/gifts), [Strike_Convoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strike_Convoy/gifts).



> This an origin story for my friend CavalierConvoy of her primary Transformers character turned Kamen Rider character. It was partially inspired from watching the Kamen Rider GP Taisen movie and wondering what would happen if Shocker just tried to eliminate the riders altogether instead of just... brainwashing them, every single time. o.o;;  
> As a result a bunch of friends got their personal characters humanized and Riderized. One is referenced in this story, I will probably do their origin next because I'm goofy like that.  
> Kamen Rider Blitzen is a Kamen Rider expy of WarlordEnfilade's Stormrave.  
> Kamen Rider Nitro is a Kamen Rider Expy of CavalierConvoy's Artemis Prime.  
> Tyrone Black is a humanization of Transformers character Trailbreaker.

The sign Harley Hendrickson Motors stood rusted and disheveled in front of an abandoned building. It had been a long time since anyone had been here, largely due to the terrorist kingdom known as Shocker spreading across the world. A group of monsters and androids having banded together to overwhelm conventional forces.  
Artemis grimaced as her scavenging group passed by the sign, hoping to find something here of value. Their roaming caravan has heard rumor that this building had once been the home of a great scientist. The noticeable mechanical parts and spread of the invasive alien plant species only known as Helheim suggested this to be fact.  
Shocker would not have sent Inves and Roidmudes to this location for any more then a threat to their dominion. She was pulled out of her thoughts as another one of their group approached one of the plants, reaching out and plucking the odd plum-colored fruit from a vine. It was the newest recruit Zachary, a young man that had joined their group on the way to this facility.  
"Zack!" She growled to herself, running over and smacking it out of his hand. Most of the group had taken precautions to the hypnotic power of the fruit. Tight protective masks locked in the back, requiring someone else to remove it before anyone could fall prey to it's trans-formative power.  
But Zack was new, and they only had so many resources. He wouldn't have been on this scavenging run at all if they weren't so short handed at the moment. He rubbed his head in response, shaking it as he stumbled back. "Sorry Artemis, I just... it's been a while since we've found any fruit." He sheepishly tried to excuse his actions.  
She looked at him for a moment sternly. "Don't need to excuse it, but we both know that isn't the case. Fall in with the others." She responded, motioning into the facility where the others had gone. Zack nodded and headed inside, glancing back at the plants for just a second. "Don't even dare." She responded again sternly as she followed him inside. This kid was going to get himself killed at this rate, if not by Shocker it would be his own ignorance.  
She had seen enough friends succumb to that damnable fruit. If not by eating it... she had seen the belts, seen her friend take the power offered by that damnable son of a bitch calling himself Horizon. Stormy was slowly becoming a different person with the use of her weird fruit-lock... Lock-seed, that was what the mysterious figure had called it. Much more possessive of their home, acting as if it were her kingdom to protect.  
It was why she had transferred to the caravan division. Why she had chosen to take her team to this particular location with all the rumors of what had happened. Supposedly there was other technology like it out there. It had been noticed that there were others with belts in Shocker's army. Even Horizon wore a belt of sorts, despite the fact they had seen him consume others of Shocker's army to fight. She just needed one of her own to take the burden off of her friend.  
As she looked through the damaged lab with the others, she couldn't help but be a little disheartened. It looked like the inside had been through an extensive firefight. Machinery lay torn apart across the ground as she walked the length of the room, taking it all in. What remains may have been left of an living nature were gone, likely picked clean by wild Inves in the area. The others were gathering what supplies they deemed useful as she walked, mostly canned goods left behind by the previous owner.  
Even worse, a Harley Davidson sat in the next room, plant life having grown over it in the last few years. Artemis whistled to herself as she walked over to clean the machine off. She only slowed her pace as she entered the room due to the odd sound of her footsteps. There was a hollow ring to the sound of rubber on metal, as if there was another level to the building. She had not seen any signs of stairs in her patrol of the building...  
It was only when she reached the motorcycle that she noticed a few things off about it. There were extra components attached to the body, things that only a motor-enthusiast like herself would have noticed. Components that led all the way down to the clamps which held the bike upright... Something had replaced the key slot as well on the bike. It seemed like it was less of a real bike and just the remains used to hide something else.  
A thought occurred to her and she reached over to the handlebars of the bike, gunning the throttle gently. A loud click occurred as the floor started to move downwards, an elevator system grinding its way into motion after years of disuse. Of course this was missed... they sent androids and monsters to destroy the facility. Her own experiences with the Inves had shown they were of limited mind and focus. And the machine parts in the next room suggested something was taken if the owners had managed to destroy a Roidmude or two like that. It had been a double blind.  
The lift managed to settle inside what looked like a laboratory. It was only one room, but it was littered with technology and equipment. What little light was available in the room came from up above, even as she started to examine the equipment surrounding her. At least two items seemed to be a pair of pistols, though they were the strangest pistols she had ever seen. More like a circular saw really in shape, as the front end of these guns appeared to end in a miniature tire.  
As she continued to examine them, some of the other scavengers seemed to notice her appearance as well as the hole left by the former floor of the upper room. At least one bent next to the edge of the floor, calling down. “Artemis, you OK?” He was a large French Canadian man with unkempt brown hair. Some of the other scavengers had always joked with him about his mutton chops but he took it all in stride. She noted as she glanced up to him that he was already securing a rope to make his way down.  
“Found... something. Not sure what to make of them TB.” She responded back to her companion as she pulled her knapsack off of her back and started to bag the rest of her equipment. Of the scavengers, Tyrone Black had been the one quickest to adapt to any unknown technology they came across. It had been his work that had resulted in the weapons they had to defend themselves against scavengers. If anyone was going to figure out what these were, it was likely him.  
Landing gruffly, TB looked over the counters on his side of the room. There seemed to be some kind of paperwork pinned up on the wall that he was examining, before starting to detach it carefully and pack it into his own bag. “This is... I've seen some of this before Artemis. On the rare occasion Stormy's left any robot remains left.” He motioned to one diagram in particular that looked like a module. “Pretty certain that's one of their cores. You really know how to pick your targets, you know that?”  
Artemis just smirked a a little as she pulled her bag back over her shoulder. “What, you're saying I found something of use? Why Teebs... that might just be considered a compliment.” Her smirk grew a bit wider at Tyrone's mild embarrassment and confusion. The two could be called a couple, if such things were important these days. But out on the field like this wasn't the place to get him too riled up at the moment. “So you think this place knew how to make them?” She asked, picking up the two pistols and walking over.  
“Either that or they knew who did. Definitely working with the same technology though.” Teebs responded as he glanced over at her weapons with an interested tilt of the head. Taking one in hand, he examined it carefully. “...hrm. This is interesting...” He commented as he looked back down at the table before him, picking up what looked like a highly expensive motorcycle toy from the table. She noted as he did so he started to walk toward the available light in the center of the room.  
Artemis raised an eyebrow precociously. “You're joking right? A toy is interesting?” She joked as she leaned against the counter next to him. She couldn't help but notice there was yet another next to her in a silver color scheme, lying strapped to what looked like a hip hilt of sorts. Picking it up and examining it, she could help but notice little red marks like slashes around the exterior of the tires of the toy. It was a crimson shade, like drying blood. Cute but a little childish in her opinion.  
“It is when it seems to fit into these pea shooters you managed to find.” TB responded as he walked into the light and pushed the cycle he had in hand into an easily missed slot on the weapon. The weapon managed to make a slight noise of an engine gunning for a moment as it started to warm into life. Both were surprised as an excited voice sprang forth from the activated weapon.  
“Signal Bike! Niiitttrrooo~” Came the voice from the weapon, even as Artemis's own pistol revved into life. Tyrone glanced over to her before offering the weapon over. It seemed only right at the moment.  
Artemis took it silently, surprised at how right both weapons felt in her hands. It wasn't a suit like Stormy, not yet anyways. But it was something. Maybe Teebs could figure out something with the blueprints or the other gear they had taken. She shuffled around her gear for a moment, before glancing back at the holster she had taken the bike she was holding herself. It seemed to have a place for clipping the gun to her hip.  
Teebs's gaze followed her own in the direction of the holster. “There's another one over where I was.” He commented with a small bit of awe, motioning to her other side. Artemis nodded as she started to strap the holster to one side, even as Teebs grabbed the other and did the same with some embarrassment. It was only when they finished that the shouts of fear and sounds of gunfire startled them from up above.  
Tyrone frowned and grabbed for the rope, starting to climb. “Oh that cannot be good. You don't think he was stupid enough to grab one, do you?” He managed to mutter down towards Artemis as he made his way up. They'd both left the kid, Zack, alone upstairs. He grew angry with himself for the mistake. They'd both agreed he shouldn't be left alone.  
“Can and do.” Artemis muttered to herself as she followed him up. She'd been so obsessed with finding something that she may have cost another person their life. Some days it felt like there was a special place down below for people like her and she was just digging her way down to that pit. As the two entered the next room, they were a bit surprised at what they had found. There was not one Inves, but two in the next room.  
A larger creature, likely some large mammal that had been infected in the area that circled around another as several of their fellow scavengers hid under cover. It had now taken on the form of what almost looked like a jade Chinese dragon with oddly curled wings. The smaller one swung a large claw at the larger Inves, seemingly attempting to struggle to keep its attention on itself. It was only when their circling had made a half-pass that the two realized what happened. It was only half Inves...  
The other half was an injured Zack, growling at the creature above with an inhuman tone. Vines grew out of his wounds and made it very apparent what had happened. The larger creature had sneak into the room and attacked him, infected him with Helheim's unholy plant life. That he was only partially transformed seemed to suggest that he had saw no point in fighting the inevitable and ate a Helheim fruit. Even now he was glancing around the room, clearly struggling to maintain his focus on his attacker.  
Artemis growled to herself, grabbing at her newly obtained weapons and pulling them up to aim at the larger creature. They seemed to be working now, why not test it out? A few quick pulls of the trigger released a few dozen bolts of energy towards the creature, burning and exploding on impact as they forced it backwards. She kept on the assault, even as Zack-ves took advantage of the distraction to rush and claw at the creature's chest.  
Teebs grimaced as he made his way carefully around the room, checking on each of his fellow scavengers. No one had been wounded quite like Zack it appeared. Likely the kid had been the first to notice it enter the building. It hurt a little to think he had just accused him of eating a fruit out of ignorance. Especially since he seemed to be keeping the creature at bay with Artemis's help... though that quickly changed as the larger Inves had finally had enough.  
It swept its wings forward sharply, throwing a gust of wind forward and throwing Zack-ves off of his feet into the room. With the momentary distraction it turned and charged to the opening to the outside, taking flight and escaping its attackers. Zack screamed in its direction, energy starting to arc over his back in unnatural tones... before turning back to face his former teammates. The red unholy glow to his eyes just accented the unholy growl from his lips.  
A sudden rush of vines erupted out his wound, covering the half-man, half monster in alien foliage. Artemis cringed to herself as she lowered her weapons in Zack's direction. They had seen this before, what ever grip Zack had on his infection was gone now. Helheim had claimed his body for a breeding ground for the unholy monster they were about to face.  
“Everyone, out!” She managed to shout, even as the mass of vines and plant life erupted outwards and the blue horned Inves that had been Zack charged her way. A small part of her hoped that it meant Zack was still fighting inside even as she returned fire, drawing it back and away from the others. The rest of her knew it just saw her as the biggest threat with her new found weapons. There was no room for hope in this. He was gone and she only hoped she could put the monster that had replaced him in the ground with him.  
Her fire was staggering him briefly, at the least. But it still didn't give her many options, even as she ran along the equipment lining her side of the room. She couldn't go back to the lab, there was still an open pit in the next room where the motorcycle had been. And there was no way she could fight this thing in the cramped space below.  
It was only luck that let her notice the crackle of energy running down the creature's arm as it attacked. A quick arcing horizontal swing of it's claw sent a wave of energy at the survivor, burning through everything in it's path. Artemis dived hard, narrowly missing becoming many slices of human bologna. Her weapons hit the ground wheels first as she skidded across the floor, the axle swiveling on the front of the blasters even as energy crackled over them.  
Tyrone looked back at her direction in alarm even as the others made their way to safety. “Artemis!” He managed to cry out as he drew his own weapon with alarm as the creature turned in his direction. A sidearm modified with technological leftovers from Roidmudes, it was more of a high tech stun gun compared to the others weapons. Still, it had proven itself useful against Inves in the past. He drew aim and fired on the creature as well, moving away from the others and towards Artemis's position.  
Artemis pushed herself to her knees, looking at her weapons in shock. The crackle of energy had illuminated a display she had missed the first time she had examined them. There was a gauge of sorts, partially filled by her tumble. This wasn't what stood out to her however... it was the fateful word just above the gauge. “Henshin.” She muttered to herself for a moment, recalling the same word was what would activate her friend's suit.  
The engines stalled for a moment on her weapons, surprising her even as the sounds of Teeb's weapon pulled her back into reality. This wasn't the time to be shocked after all... pushing herself up further, she decided to try something a bit risky as she took off running for the Zack-ves. The creature heard her footsteps coming, turning to face her even as Tyrone shouted at Artemis to stop. This could work, this -had- to work was all she could think about as she closed the distance, ducking under the creature's swipe.  
She swung both weapons upwards in an arc, shocking her opponent with the energies crackling on the wheels of both. The engines revved on her weapons even as the creature stumbled back with a howl as she continued her assault, slashing back and forth with each wheel. It was only when the weapons let out a fanfare, stating in a cool electronic tone “Nitro Filled, Full Burst?” that Artemis dared try the words again.  
“Henshin!” She growled as a burst of fire and energy enveloped her, throwing the creature back and away. It was an incredible feeling of power even as the suit started to form around her, taking on a midnight blue and black tone. If this was what her friend had felt with her own belt, it was no wonder that she was falling prey to it. This world was practically on the edge of oblivion, they had lived their whole lives waiting for the end. To have the power to stop it... But.  
She growled to herself, angry at her own thoughts as the fire cooled and her visor set its sights on the Inves. She couldn't stop Zack from being turned and she was already thinking of herself as all-powerful. That wasn't the world they lived in, not anymore. “Tyrone, get out of here.” She stated in a commanding tone even as the Zack-ves pushed itself up howling, angry at the abuse she had put it through.  
“Artemis...” He struggled with the request, hesitant to leave her behind. He looked to the door then back at her again before making up his mind. “Don't get killed!” He called out in her direction before following the others path out the door. The command made her smirk, just a little. Damn it, she was doing it again... thinking cocky thoughts. She'd need to work on that.  
The creature charged for her, energy starting to build in its claws again as it prepared another wave of energy to lash out with. She didn't give it a chance, rushing in as well and smashing her makeshift clubs into her opponent while releasing a burst of shots. This had gone on long enough, she needed to finish this fast and quickly so they could get to safety. Each strike of the weapons added another notch of energy to the built-in meters, albeit more slowly then the last time.  
These things needed to be charged, that much was apparent. She couldn't even help but notice that the shots themselves were more powerful, much more penetrating against her opponent as she sidestepped another slash, waves of energy tearing into their environment. Another few strikes and the request came again from her weapons. “Nitro Filled, Full Burst?” She took the moment to kick the Inves back hard, giving herself some space as she aimed with both weapons.  
“I'm sorry Zack... At least you saved a bunch of people. Full Burst.” She muttered to herself before pulling the trigger, sending a zigzagging crossing stream of energy from both weapons that tore through her former friend. The creature that had been Zack was thrown backwards, stumbling to its knees as the energy continued to arc and burn its body. It was only a few moments before it exploded into nothingness, leaving Artemis along with her thoughts and her guilt.  
There was nothing that could be done for him... she could only honor his memory by making sure no more fell victim to the plant. Unsure of how to drop the suit... she did what Stormy did. She grabbed hold of the small bike lodged in one of the pistols and pulled it free, causing the suit to break apart and dissolve even as she ran over for the doorway. The caravan was already up and running as she exited the building, an armored carrier that had been Tyrone's pride and joy.  
The door swung open as she ran over, pulling herself inside before it took off in a burst of speed for home base. Tyrone looked over to her with a concerned look, unsure of what to make of what had happened. He had barely glimpsed the suit up, let alone the aftermath... this was beyond him. “Are you going to be OK?” He asked her after a few minutes of driving.  
She glanced away, not sure how exactly to answer the question. The road ahead seemed dark, both physically and metaphorically. She had gained more power but it just made what she could do with it all the smaller. Was this why Stormy was acting the way she was? Trying to make some sense of what she could do for others? “I'll live...” was the brief response she was able to give him.  
After a few more moments of silence he gathered his wits about him and said the one thing that was bugging him the most. “I need to study that tech. It's dangerous... you could have died out there.” He stressed the last part, frustrated that they had lost the one they did. This was risky and a part of him couldn't help but remember this was Artemis's idea, no matter how much of it was an accident.  
“You can study it... but I'm not giving them up Teebs.” She looked at him with a determined look. “We need all the help we can get. This can help, this might even be what we need, right? It's not like we didn't get anything else out of it. You've got those blueprints. You're a smart man, we both know this. For better or worse I can't stop after this. I owe Zack that much at the least.” She explained as she turned back towards the road.  
For better or worse, this was who she was. Stormy was “Kamen Rider Blitzen”... she was a “Kamen Rider” now as well. Whatever the hell that meant. Probably nothing good. But when has that ever stopped her? She sat in silence and thought as the group headed back to base.


End file.
